Workplace learning and the role of VET

Notes/observations on a conference

Rainbird

• learning in the workplace - a community of practice - not just an individual activity
• standards based (eg CBT) has the problem of not accessing the theoretical knowledge, how to learn-type skills
• should be focused on the learner

Cooney (Auto industry)

• short-term role of training
• so, must demonstrate return to business (in the now) - therefore job specific skills development

Effects -

• firm specific/job specific
• therefore, not necessarily transferable across the industry
• less focus on developmental learning

*** training not leading to the broad-based skill development that leads to innovation and product development

Giselle Mawer -SMEs

• experience and skills from on job (especially from supplier training) valued over accredited training
• accredited training for mandated requirements
• not much knowledge of the formal VET system, RPL and AQF qualifications (knowledge mainly from industry bodies - limited)
• individual needs training
• or for new pay structures

*** most of trainng undertaken was either free of direct costs or subsidised by govt and statewide subsidies and levies

*** employer responsible for employee currency

Barriers

• lack of relevance and unresponsive
• difficulties in releasing staff

Possible points of connection

• formal recognition of current skills (RPL)
• strategically targeted promotion and facilitation
• more integration of VET services with workplace business
• know industry context

Peter Waterhouse

• enterprise based not industry based training
• employers often don't place value on quals as much as employees
• quals - gateway at recruitment
• quals - and a developmental tool & career pathway

we all use the same ingredients - it is what you do with it that makesthe difference

• shift from delivery to dialogue on design of programs
• Training Package - instrument of policy and instrument of training
• contextualised & relevant does not mean reductionist or narrow.

Mary Jones (Indigenous programs - Victoria)

• need for program of critical thinking
• link of underpinning concepts to the competencies
• use of experiential learning (Kolb 1984)
• reflective learning
• group learning
• facilitated - group had ownership
• workplace did not always identify tacit knowledge
• use of learning journal
• workplace issues discussed in the formal learning place

• students linked to employers at start of program

also

• need to know the students
• program for welding - did not work because employers did not want to train - just get pre-skilled workers

Conclusion - John Bucannan

• ABS - most workers only have workplace training (WPT)
• WPT - being starved of resources
• - re-engage with on the job to hit training needs
• Problems with training sit with senior business and Government policy
• It is not RTOs being unresponsive but constrained to qualifications framework and Training packages
• Training packages - enterprises don't need full qualifications but skill sets.

"Looking for Blackfellas' Point"

I have just finished reading this book. It is a look at the history of place, a story that needed to be told about the history of what happened on the far south coast after the arrival of Europeans. It tells the history as it was - not as it was perceived. It places the history of the area into 4 parts: Dispossession, Forgetting, Abandonment, Confrontation.

The impact is enormous. It tells, using a lot of source material and oral histories, of the dispossession of the aboriginals from there land. It was a movement both open and by stealth. Then it moves into the realm of the way in which the whites conveniently "forgot" about the way in which they tried to wipe out the real locals. The interesting thing about the book is the way it deals with both sides. Part 3 looks at the how the non-Aboriginals felt about their circumstance - they largely had a sense of abandonment. They were at the frontier - a long way form what they saw as civilisation. There was almost no moral/ethical well being.

It wasn't till 30 years after settlement that there was any Christian Church that looked after the people.

And on some occasions the church didn't help the Aboriginal people.

And also, not every one was against the traditional locals. Chapter 6 is the story of Oswald Brierly, a young artist who came to the area with Ben Boyd to manage Boydtown. But he also came with paints, and pencils and made many observations. He tells the story of the locals: black and white. He has a strong empathy with the Aborigines, and often condemned the actions of the whites. "He was a pioneer of understanding rather than a pioneer of industry" (p 134)

Part 4 - Confrontation. (And it was)

Looks at the new history - the forgotten past - the real history. The pasted shaped now by the memory of what happened, about who we are (black and white). It is interesting that in 1967 Bega had the distinction of recording the 2nd highest rejection rate (voted no in the referendum for aboriginal equality). This section is challenging and very confronting as it reflects a lot about us all as a people (section 8 - "we are all one" p 162 ff). It reflects fear and discrimination, it shows heart and compassion.

Above all it showed a way forward. It tells of the move to reconciliation - of the need to be aware of and sensitive to the shame and pain of the white past.

Even though I (we) were not there does not meant that I/we can not have real regret about what happened in the past.

Even though the book is set about the south coast, it tells a story that is mostly true for all the country - there was good and bad everywhere.

It is now that we must understand and walk together. The past may be gone but the future beckons...

One amazing book - well done Mark McKenna.

Book details: Looking for Blackfellas' Point: an Australian History of Place, Mark McKenna , 9780868406442, UNSW Press, August 2002

I came across this interesting link.
It is the blog site for a Sydney Uni History unit about Land, Memory and Place in History (It will probably vanish after the end of semester which will be a shame). Yep it has a new link: http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/writingplace/2007/04/the_relationship_between_place.html (as at 7/3/2008)

Expansion with a difference - Batmania

in contrast...

3 March 1837: 'Melbourne' it is...

The history of the founding of melbourne is one dominated by a man who was either a hero or a fraud. History is divided.

John Batman, was a fellow who tried something different and 170 years later the dispute continues. What ever way the arguement goes, he shall go down in history as the man who founded the site of Melbourne - and he has statues and plaques to support his memory.

For, me the interesting thing about him is his deed/treaty with the local Aboringinal people in the Port Phillip Bay area in what is today the Melbourne metropolitan area. Whatever his real motive, at face value he wanted to achieve access to the area, to settle, without bloodshed. This is in sharp contrast to the events read about in Blood on the Wattle.

If only more people had tried to talk to the locals.

To discover more about John Batman go to the National Museum of Australia's collection on Batmania. Batmania home page Included in the collection is the transcript of the deed and much more beside. for the FLASH version (Flash 6 compatible)

Whatever the outcome of the discussion, at least he appears to have had some respect for the locals in that at least he appears to have accepted the fact that they had claim to their country. The fact that he talked to them in British legal terms and they in their local country law, misunderstandings aside, at least it was peaceful.

An interesting website:

Worth a visit, virtually and physically

Depressed - 150 years of injustice

Last Saturday I had a fairly relaxed day, that is till I took to finishing the reading of Blood on the Wattle (Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians Since 1788, 3rd Edition; Bruce Elder; isbn: 174110008-9). This spoilt my day. It is depressing, really horrifying what was done in the name of so called civilisation.

I think the real shock was reading about people I thought had been the "good guys" in early (white) Australian history. William Cox built the the road over the Blue Mountains without losing a single convict labourer. We have always seen him as a humane person - he looked after his workers.

"William Cox took six months to complete the construction of the 101 miles of roadway. It was a great engineering feat for that time in history. He had convicts and soldiers assigned to him and although justice was hard in those days, the men were pleased to work for William, which resulted in their freedom, on completion of the task"

Reference: BLUE MOUNTAINS ROAD FROM PENRITH to BATHURST PLAINS

However, that image is shattered by reading of his life in the Bathurst area, land given to him as a reward for the road. On page 58 of Blood on the Wattle is a quote attributed to Cox: "The best thing that can be done is to shoot all the blacks and manure the ground with their carcasses..." disgusting.

Then to read that William Lawson (one of the 3 explorers that crossed the Blue Mts) had similar sentiments. Too much!

On talking to a friend as we wandered along a track in Faulconbridge that was possibly an Aboriginal highway in times long gone, we discussed the horrors that were perpetrated against these people. The feelings reflected the major injustices that were dealt against these people just wanting to survive in their country.

In promoting better times from the past:

Circles in the Blue Mountains.

A possible meeting place?

ten canoes - a story about life ... and death

"One hundred and fifty spears, ten canoes, three wives... trouble"










I just watched ten canoes. A very powerful movie. It is about a story. Well 2 stories - it is a story within a story.

The story of the ancients told to a young man.
A story of how to live, how to behave.
It delves into what it is that makes up the people.
It is a story of the people.
It was simple yet complex.

It tells of the connection to the land, and in someways of the circle of life (and death) eg from the little fish in the waterhole, to a person, to return to the waterhole.

Of one with the land, of the law of the land.
The story was both parable and history.

It was captivating and begs to be taken further.

a story to teach ... to learn about a nearly forgotten culture ... to continue to understand the link to the land

...and the filming was truly amazing...

A film worth watching: Ten Canoes *****

ACEP - 4 More on Stories

Today I had an interesting discussion about what is a story. So just what is a story. most dictionaries have a similar definition which is along the lines of:

A narrative or story in its broadest sense is anything told or recounted; more narrowly, something told
or recounted in the form of a causally-linked set of events; account; tale,: the telling of a happening or connected series of happenings, whether true or fictitious. http://www.stevedenning.com/What_story.html

other definitions can be found at answers.com, or google's definitions.

From thse we see that the story is just a collection of events. My Oxford dictionary has 3 meanings; two of the relate to the telling if events or factual information.
However, many people have this veiw that a story is the telling of a fictional account, like a novel or fib (as in a child telling stories)
This had led to a down-grading of the word story.
Most cultures use story telling to convey their history, their law, the social mores, etc, to the next generation. Generally these are not stories of fiction.
Interpretive guides and teachers also make extensive use of stories. They use them to tell the history of locations, about events about how to do things using examples.
So, in our society there are those who suggest that the term "story" should not be used but rather terms such as histories, lore, mores.
Personally, I think that these terms miss the point.

The term story also conveys a sense of how it is told.
A history can be a string of items , like dates; whereas a historical story is something people are more likely to want to hear, than a string of dates.

So, in using the term story I want it to convey the full sense of the word: the way it is told, the factual content, a way in which information can be conveyed such that the listener may have a comprehension of what is being told and hopefully remember it sometime in the future. It is a means to get an audience to get a sense of feeling about what is being told.

As I said before remove the story: remove the life.
Life would be pretty ordinary without the stories.

acep - 3 About Stereotypes

One of the topics of discussion on day 1 was something like: "think about what you think an Aboriginal whould look like". Then the group was asked to tell the rest what they thought.
Most people had in their mind something like the "typically scrawny or athletic, dark skinned, curly-haired native in loin cloth" as so often shown in early colonial art works. These are the images, often taught at school in social studies up to the mid 1970's, that have shaped for many what an Aboriginal should look like.
How far off the mark is this?
OK, so the there may be a couple like this, but the person can be as different our 2 facilitators. There is no one size fits all desciption. I had trouble with the question, as I have worked with, taught and known Aboriginal people from all over Australia. I could not come up with single image. But then I have had the opportunity to work in much of this country with many different people.

Consider the differences between Lionel Rose (boxer) and Evonne Cawley (tennis player) as an example. I only know the former from images in the newspapers, etc, but I know Evonne Cawley, not just through the media, but from personally meeting her in 1976. One just an image, the other, a larger than life person. Sitting, writing this I recall the tragic comment often used by commentators about her when she was struggling in a match: "could she hold it together or would she go walkabout?" 30 years on, I find it such a horrible thing to say, displaying an ignorance we need to educate people away from.
Many people I know have not left the "safety" of their own environment, so have not been exposed to the diversity of people I have seen around Australia.
Their view of the Aboriginal is that displayed by their teachers, and by the media in its various forms.

Today, I stumbled across this article in the Sydney Morning Herald. "It was about the World Press Photo of the year, by Spencer Platt, of Getty Images, which has become 'controversial' since it was announced. The problem, it seems, is that the image is not what everyone wants it to be ..." The article "its_all_in_your_mind" is worth a read. But after you get to the page, look at the image. What is it about? Consider this before you read the article .

It seems stereotyping is alive and well

Book of the day: Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians Since 1788, 3rd Edition; Bruce Elder; isbn: 174110008-9

Thought for today: stereotypes have no place in dealing with people and cultures

ACEP - 2 Stories are about life

The other day Annette (another teacher doing the course) and I had lunch to discuss some of the ideas that had been put forward last week. We looked at the stories in the work book: A Gammon Dreaming Story, The Whale Song and Jinni.
It is good when you can sit and talk to some one about common ideas.
The main theme is the connectedness of the people to the land and how stories are used to pass on things to the next generation - some times without the young person realising it till later. Remove the story - remove the very essence of the culture.
Anyway, yesterday Michael Nelson posted a thing about a great paper about story centred curriculum by Roger Schank. (read about the dragonslayer course). It is about using stories to deliver courses that relate to the outcomes that students require. Great that people are thinking about this as being educationally sound - a few thousand years after other cultures started the same.


Book of the day: Blue Mountains Dreaming: The Aboriginal Heritage Edited by Eugene Stockton

Aboriginal Cultural Education Program - day 1

Last Thursday I attended day one of this program that is running in the college.
it is about understanding aboriginal culture, and as a consequence some understanding of their link to the land, each other and the relationships and spirituality that goes to to the make up these people and their country.
from the first it was interesting just how some people saw (or more probably did not see) the importance of The Dreaming stories. Some were very aggressive about showing a distinct lack of understanding and at times an unwillingness to accept was the 2 facilitators were trying to put across. So, as in many things I have attended, it really warmed to being an interesting time watching the reactions to people who appeared not to have been involved with the deeper side of aboriginal culture, and its importance to the very essence of who they are (past, present and future).

To the content: we spent much of the time considering the importance of The Dreaming to the people. Its centrality, and interconnectedness between the people, the land, the law and the lore.
This importance starts to give rise to thoughts about how learning is undertaken and a way of life maintained. Not surprisingly the learning is through stories, public and private. Stories that pass on things like who am i?; why am I here? to how did every thing begin? how do we live in this land and the relationship between all things.

Thought for the day on this: there is a need for a respect for the culture, to acknowledge the importance of The Dreaming. From here the relationship exists.


Book of the day: "Prehistory of Australia" by John Mulvaney and Johan Kumminga; isbn 9781864489507









A web site to consider: Lore of the Land

A thank you to our facilitators: Cheryl and Maxine

A small problem called size

well whoever said doing videos online was easy was making an understatement. It is easy but when you have bulk videos that only shrink to 400 mb it becomes a loading nightmare.
The other frustration is the DET network and its bar on youtube and google video. Currently it still only lets us use bliptv, in my view a poor 2nd to the others.
However we will continue...

a new year - some new ideas.